Tins & Fins, Margate: ‘Bright and lively flavours’

Another feather in Margate’s culinary bow, new restaurant Tins & Fins has brought fresh, vibrant Filipino flavours to the seaside. 

Taking over the restaurant space at Selina, the restaurant is the latest venture by Frances Puyat and Andrew Zilof, the team behind Rapsa, the piquant Pinoy restaurant in Hoxton and Pete Clucas from Camden themed pizza joints, Lost Souls Pizza (Vampire) and True Romance Pizza (Tarantino).

While not a carbon copy of Rapsa, Fins & Tins is cut from the same cloth. It plates up the big and busy flavours of the southeast Asian archipelago which are a muddle of neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand and Spanish colonisation. It is a fusion cuisine, without really trying.

The restaurant opened with a soft launch last Friday (April 26) and with a gentle waft of behind the scenes chaos, which, as it was the first day of service is fair enough.

The interiors are largely as they were; airy and flooded with natural light, and with views of the day drawing to a close over the North Sea across the road. 

Tins & Fin’s cocktails are familiar faces dressed up with the likes of chilli, ginger, citrusy flavours and even sparkling banana beer, and topical flavours to give you tropicalish tipples such as a hibiscus margarita with Jalapeño salt, or a lychee and grapefruit sling for example. 

The menu, created by Frances, takes all the bright, lively flavours of the London sister restaurant and channels it into a menu of small plates, skewers and Filipino-style ceviche, kinilaw. 

It’s a good-looking menu full of pep, despite being light on the veg and vegan options. While dishes are on the smaller side, there’s enough choice to force you into making a shortlist.

Halloumi fingers with banana ketchup and slow roasted pork belly with jalapeño salsa and miso sauce are on my hit list for next time. So is the arroz valenciana, because it’s really good. 

We ordered one, then another of the dish. Sitting somewhere between paella and the most gourmet fried rice you’ll ever meet, the side came with boiled egg, fleshy nuggets of marinated chicken, crispy fried shallots and a little bit of veg moulded on top of a mound of sticky rice. 

Other standout dishes included the oysters we slurped back while knocking back a summery yuzu going to like this as the sun went down to start.

Up there with the best-dressed oysters I’ve had, the ocean-flavoured molluscs were topped with a zippy, gingery brine made from jalapeño salsa and radish.  

The lamb shoulder skewers with its tangy mayo and a herb salad that was a crunchy as it was sharp, while the sea bream kinilaw was also a hit. Plump fish pieces sat in a puddle of creamy coconut milk that was gently infused with the bright citric tang of ponzu and a delicate musty wiff of papaya. 

If summer is just half as sunny as the dishes here, we’re in luck.

Tins & Fins is now open for brunch and dinner Thursday to Saturday 11am-3pm, 5pm-9.30pm and Sunday 11am-8pm. 21-27 Eastern Esplanade, Cliftonville, Margate CT9 2HL. tins_and_fins_margate